The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
In conventional database systems, a type of data capable of being stored in such database systems is limited. For example, each field of a database may be configured to store only a particular type of data. In some cases, the particular type of data may be customized for all fields in a column of the database. Unfortunately, conventional database systems have been limited in their ability to store some types of data, such as rich text, files, and images. For example, rich text, files, and images have generally exceeded the allowable size for data being stored in a single field of a database.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide techniques enabling a database system to be utilized to access content stored outside of the database system to improve the usability of the database system.